The US Air Force released the investigative report on the May 2013 crash of an F-15C Eagle off the coast of Japan:
The jet stopped responding to flight control inputs…The pilot was not able to recover from a left descending spiral — after trying for 20 seconds — and ejected at 4,500 feet above sea level.
While the board did cite mechanical failure, there were also Read more
Some time ago the Air Force began giving pilot training graduates an assignment to the F-22 directly out of UPT. Previously, pilots had to be trained in another fighter — F-15, F-16 — first, then take the F-22 as a future assignment. The F-22 was always intended to be a traditional “pipeline” fighter, however, so it was only a matter of time before the first F-22 Lt took to the air.
After three years of rigorous U.S. Air Force pilot training, 25-year-old 1st Lt. Andrew Van Timmeren, 7th Fighter Squadron pilot, finally Read more
Reports indicate a US Air Force F-15 Eagle based in Kadena crashed off Japan. The pilot ejected and has been safely recovered.
As with all such incidents, the Air Force will investigate over the next few months.
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The Associated Press penned a piece saying the US Air Force has been saddled by an aging fleet of aircraft thanks to “past inattention” and a “lack of urgency.”
For decades, the U.S. Air Force has grown accustomed to such superlatives as unrivaled and unbeatable. These days, some of its key combat aircraft are being described with terms like geriatric, or decrepit.
The article then details some of the aircraft the Air Force is flying, including the KC-135, B-52, and U-2 (1950s), and F-15, F-16, and A-10 (1970s). Modern era Read more
Chuck Yeager’s relationship with the Air Force has been somewhat unique. Made a Brigadier General, there were rumors he retired in a huff after being denied a second star. Even after retirement, however, he continued to fly Air Force aircraft. For a time, he even worked as a “contractor” for $1 a year, which gave him access to such flights. He had a much ballyhooed “last flight” with the Air Force in 1997, 50 years after breaking the sound barrier.
Of course, he has continued to fly with the Air Force, including flights on virtually every October 14th to celebrate his 1947 flight in the X-1. Last year it was in an F-16. This year, an F-15 at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas on a Sunday romp to supersonic speeds: Read more
The F-15C Eagle is an air-to-air fighter. That’s what it does, and that’s what its pilots love. In fact, saying the air-to-ground “b-word” (bomb) is even forbidden in the community (among other linguistic games).
That isn’t stopping the Eagles from trying out some of the air-to-ground toys.
The Air Force Times reports a National Guard F-15C unit has been testing a Sniper pod, an air-to-ground targeting pod, on its Eagles: Read more
While stories of political insensitivity or incorrectness sometimes shock the public (or political) conscience, those within the military often find such displays far less offensive — or rare.
A few years ago, US Air Force F-15 pilot 1Lt Ali Jivanjee was killed in an F-15 training accident. He was a Muslim fighter pilot who took it upon himself to sign his name “Jihad” — apparently because he’d been “teased” (hazed? bullied?) about his first and middle names being “Ali Akbar” (similar to “Allahu akbar,” a phrase often connected to “jihadists,” for those that don’t make the connection).
His F-15 peers eventually named him “Danny Boy,” because he “needed a good Irish name.”
A fighter squadron is definitely not a bastion of political correctness, or cultural sensitivity.
A recent Military.com article notes the same theme throughout much of the rest of the military. Makers of accoutrements — including unofficial military uniform patches — with variations of “American infidel” on them are doing gangbuster business: Read more
The widow of Capt Jeff Haney, killed in the November 2010 crash of an F-22 in Alaska, is suing the contractors who built the plane — which includes Lockheed, Boeing, Honeywell, and Pratt & Whitney.
It states that the aircraft was sold with known defective on-board oxygen generating system, bleed air system and other life support systems. “The life support systems of the F-22 Raptor aircraft were and are completely and wholly inadequate,” the lawsuit states.
In the mishap that keeps coming back to the Air Force, the IG recently Read more